The present invention relates to a method of assembling a vehicle body, and more particularly to an assembly method of a vehicle body including a front-end module which integrates radiator supports, right-and-left head lamp units and a radiator.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2001-10534 discloses a method of attaching a front-end module to front side members. This method is arranged to absorb a relative-position error between the front-end module and the front side members.
However, this method does not improve dimensional errors of a relative position between the front side members and of positions of various elements in an engine compartment. Therefore, this method requires an assembly-dimension correcting process for correcting the dimensional errors after the installation of the front-end module in the vehicle body is completed.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle body assembly method which ensures dimensional accuracies among assembled elements when a front-end module is attached to a vehicle body. More specifically, the method is executed upon taking account that a positional error as to a relative position of the right-and-left front side members occurs when the right-and-left front side members are not restrained, and the method reproduces the positional accuracy of the front side members under the complete vehicle condition by executing the positioning of the front side members when a front-end module is attached to the vehicle body.
An aspect of the present invention resides in a method of assembling a vehicle body including a front-end module. The method comprises a step of connecting a pair of hood-ledge reinforcements with hood ledges fixed to a pair of front side members, respectively, so that a positional relationship between each hood-ledge reinforcement and each front side member is substantially equal to a first positional relationship, a step of positioning the front side members so that a positional relationship between the front side members is substantially equal to a second positional relationship, and a step of attaching a front-end module to the vehicle body while keeping the second positional relationship.
Another aspect of the present invention resides in a vehicle-body assembling system which comprises a connecting section that connects a pair of hood-ledge reinforcements with hood ledges fixed to a pair of front side members, respectively, so that a positional relationship between each hood-ledge reinforcement and each front side member is substantially equal to a first positional relationship; a positioning section that positions the front side members so that a positional relationship between the front side members is substantially equal to a second positional relationship; and an attaching section that attaches a front-end module to the vehicle body while keeping the second positional relationship.
A further another aspect of the present invention resides in a method of assembling a vehicle body, which method comprises a step of positioning a pair of front side members so that a span between the front side members is adjusted at a first design span; a step of connecting a pair of hood-ledge reinforcements with hood ledges fixed to the front side members, respectively, while keeping the first design span, so that a span between each hood-ledge reinforcement and each front side member is substantially equal to a second design span; a step of positioning again the front side members connected to the hood-ledge reinforcements so that the span between the front side members is adjusted at the first design span; and a step of attaching a front-end module to the vehicle body while keeping the first design span.
The other objects and features of this invention will become understood from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.